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FAQs
Also see: * Sierra Club Questionaire * Public exposure Op-ed by David Schlosser * http://www.vote-smart.org/pdf/npat2006/pa_State_Legislative_NPAT.pdf * Serious Campaign Survey used by the Libertarians * Scoping Questions a tool to uncover various positions. Harvested from CasinoFreePA * Libertarian Answers Frequently Asked Questions and Answers * Q&A for asking a question of the candidate. What are some core principles of Mark Rauterkus? I play well with others. I'm independent and strive for thoughtful teamwork. :See: plays well for more to this answer. :See the category: Category:plays well for other examples. What challenges and threats counter your core principles? There is corruption. Accountability is slim. The ones in power do a poor job in being effective. Often, the ones with power squash others who dare to say, think again. You can get run over in Pittsburgh as you try to block the same-old-same-old. * I'm troubled when Wayne Fontana decided he would not resign from Allegheny County Council on March 1, 2005. The Allgheney County Charter says a member of the county council must resign from that body when one is a candidate for another elected office. Clearly, Wayne Fontana knew the law and he acted in a deliberate way otherwise. He must somehow think that he is exempt from a law that is specific for those in those positions. * I'm troubled when Mayor Murphy did a political TV commercial for Ed Rendell from the Mayor's office on Grant Street. Furthermore, few if any Democrats in the area stood up with me to request that the ads be pulled from the air. * I derailed a campaign finance reform measure in 2004. Then I served with other concerned citizens on a task force to make that proposed ordinance much better than it was. But I'm troubled that the work of that committee never saw the light of day because its sponsor, Bill Peduto, lost motivation. His motivation to pass the law seemed to have been hooked to his ambitions to run for mayor in 2004. Those acts worry me as an aware participant in our public process. * I helped to insure that the right of the citizens to speak at city council were not further restricted. But there were some on city council that tried to nuke citizen comment at public meetings. Summary of core principles: # teamwork (I'm a coach.) # freedom The UK had a "free market party." I ran as a Free Market Republican. # democracy (against one-party rule) and thinking again (reform with accountability) What will you specifically try to accomplish as a state senator? Formation of a Pittsburgh Park District. The Park District's arrival allows us to take apart the RAD Tax. The Park District offers a different timeline and approach to consolidation among city, county, state services. Making the parks my early priority gives a clear path and purpose to leadership from the senate office. The Park District injects programming of excellence, technology and roots for the kids, volunteers and seniors. This solution and process deals with the outward migration problems. Formation of a new youth technology summit. Much like the Park District, a http://summit.CLOH.org Youth Technology Summit brings people under the same roof (New Convention Center) for tech literacy, relationship building, work force development, jobs, and entrepreneurship. The creation of both the Pittsburgh Park District and the Youth Technology Summit make accomplishments that can be expected as a Libertarian and Independent in the Pennsylvania Senate. I could be in the majority party, the minority party, or without any others within my same party to launch these achievements. My focus and care is not tied to the big deals in Harrisburg. Rather, I'll be there to block the foolishness and over spending. I want to fix what we have (bridges, roads, sewers). I want to fund people development projects. Thinking again about bigger, complex issues is a pending accomplishment as a Senator. I won't skirt around tough topics and issues. Nor would I be corrupted by the big-money interests. Our transportation system in the region is broke and broken. Let's bring on that discussion and I'll infuse democracy (present appointed PAT Board Members need to have "retention votes.") and accountability. I don't want to toss more money at problems as that doesn't make things better. Goals as State Senator: 1.Quality of life, so that everyone has roots here with relationships. Hence people won't move away and will move back. We'll have more money as we'll be taking care of ourselves and each other in more human-scale terms -- not with $450-million tunnels under the river for light rail that helps few if any in Pittsburgh. 2. I care that people live in our Pittsburgh region and I care for the people that live here. Brain drain, population loss, focus on retail development is foolish. 3. Retool the system of how we govern in the region, authority by authority. As a journalist and activist, I have barked at the miss-management, the wasteful spending, the wrongheaded directions. As a senator, I'll be able to govern and add amendments that insure referendums, accountability, open-government ways, e-gov for gaining interactions from the citizens/voters, and effective operations. Without speaking about your qualifications for office, why do you want to be in this elected position? What drives you to seek this office? Pittsburgh and the region is broken. I'm willing to put my efforts behind various solutions that I feel are needed to allow us to prosper in the future. More FAQs & As on statewide issues. In the most specific terms possible, what do you want to accomplish as Mayor? What are your goals? Given that one of the roles of a Mayor is to act as an ambassador and public face for the city, how do you plan to represent the city on the national stage? Many of us believe that there is a lack of transparency and accountability in the city and county governments and in the local Democratic Party. Do you agree, and if so, how would you change this? Please explain the relationship between economic development and community development. Economic development in the Pittsburgh region always seems to have a great deal to do with land speculation. The land dealings need to be watched and understood in these relationship matters. Often economic development is nothing more than land development and about land-speculation. Same too with community development and community investments. Watch to see if the development is involving land, properties, buildings and other bricks and mortar components. Community development might be the knocking down of properties that have been left in decay. Then a new set of townhouses on the land. Why did you run for mayor in 2001? * See Why I ran for Mayor in 2001. Don't you think the time is now? The city's bond rating is now BB (I think). The city has too big a payroll for a city of 327,000 people. Isn't ACT 47 a system wide reform that is happening right now? Didn't the State of Pa. put and oversight board into place to help Pittsburgh get out of the red and become fiscally responsible? Pennsylvania gave Pittsburgh two oversight boards to serve as watchdogs. They have hyped up roles of overlords. These guys are here to watch the purse strings. The state needs to see more signatures on the checks that the city issues before the city's money is spent. What would your development strategy be, and is there a bad kind of development? Sure, bad development exists. We have seen too much of it as well. Development needs to happen in two specific areas. First, we need to do overhauls of governmental services. Our government needs to be more responsive and accountable for citizens in terms of e-Gov, open-government, transparent operations and more efficient operations among governmental offices with open source technology. Second, development of the human condition is a high priority. Many kinds of bad development occur. We've seen too many of them. * Development for retail makes a bad development. * Development that washes away green space in virgin lands is not wise in shrinking times. Are you in favor of liquidating URA assets to jumpstart development and help pay down city debt? Yes or no. Mostly yes. An acclerated liquidation of URA properties would drop the value of the homes of our citizens. Staging the sell off of the URA properties in seasons would lessen the harm for existing property owners. Let's not flood the market and wash away existing values. In your view, what is the best way to deal with city debt and pension problems? In light of restrictions set by the Act 47 and ICA boards and the current fiscal crisis, how can city government ensure provision of adequate services to city residents? What specific services, if any, do you favor consolidating with the county or surrounding communities? # Parks # Afterschool activities # Do you support consolidation of the city with the county or any other local governments? Yes. The New Pittsburgh Park District is a consolidation project that offers new creativity to our situations. What Local Government makes the ''airport area?" :Local Govs Voter Registration Does anyone know the party affiliation figures for Pittsburgh? How many Pittsburghers are able to vote in the Democratic primary? How did the Rauterkus 01 vote compare to the Betsy Summers 2004 vote? In general, was strength found in some of the same places? Mark R. might have a shot at some districts where Betsy did well in November 2004. If there are areas where neither Mark nor Betsy nor Krawchk ugot any votes, then that's good to know. How did Mark R. do in Oakland or Squirrel Hill? How did Betsy do? Questions for candidates from the GSPC. * GSPC Qs and As, answers provided in Feb 2006. Issues from Student Voices * League of Young Voters Questions * 10Qs and As for delivery on Feb 12, 2006 at Club Cafe Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers * PFT Survey, response from Mark Rauterkus to the PFT from Feb 15, 2006 Planned Parenthood * Planned Parenthood Survey, responses from Mark Rauterkus Serious Questions Source is w:c:Government